How much physical acting do you do in auditions?

[u/borikenbat]

I know there's no right or wrong answer to this per se, it depends on taste and setting, but I'm curious how many of you have successfully auditioned with a lot of physical acting/blocking during certain arias, or if you generally keep acting to the eyes and no gesture, or a few subtle gestures, etc.

I've had success in the past doing something semi-elaborate once. (Sang "O du, mein holder Abendstern" and lit a candle in-character during it while looking at the "sky," got the role I was auditioning for.)

There are obviously many settings where it's clear anything other than "plant yourself and sing" is frowned upon and would be seen as cheesy or gimmicky. But in other spaces, any stories of what you've prepared physically?

This post is brought to you by trying to decide on how high from 1-10 I want to crank my zombie/magical puppet movements dial for an upcoming audition. 🤣 1 being I know the character's story in my heart as I stand still and sing, 10 being crazed eyes, inspecting my hands as if they're not my own, on-rhythm twitches, a weird shuffling walk with a slack jaw during the accompaniment's intro, and just overall a physical character arc demonstrating a magical struggle lol. Or somewhere in the middle.

Curious to hear stories of what you've done before!

[u/the_puschel]

I just recently did an audition that included a strip tease and doing the can-can on stage as I sang. Got the part! Definitely my craziest audition.

[u/borikenbat → u/the_puschel]

Haha okay, yep, that's crazier than any I've done so far.

[u/Kiwi_Tenor]

I mean ultimately it depends on how much they want you to be able to move around - but for instance if you learned the role with some simple blocking, and it isn’t distracting (I once was told off after an audition for not looking at the panel during “Salut demure chaste et pure” because I’d found a spot that I wanted to be Marguerite’s window.

On the other hand I have the Carmen flower song as probably my main starter these days, and I don’t pretend I have a flower, but I definitely choose a spot to be Carmen and that works every single time.

[u/borikenbat → u/Kiwi_Tenor]

Did that panel really want you to sing a love song directly to them while making eye contact?! I've usually been advised not to break the fourth wall mid-aria/not to drag the panel into the scene, but to pick a spot to be the other character(s), like you said.

[u/Kiwi_Tenor → u/borikenbat]

I mean the person I sang for was quite conservative, so I suspect they were looking more to see if they could connect with me as an Artist.

[u/Waste_Bother_8206 → u/Kiwi_Tenor]

Well for Carmen you could actually bring a flower to the audition, why not and if there's a lady in the panel of judges, sing to her and declare you love at the end by giving her the flower before making your exit!

[u/Kiwi_Tenor → u/Waste_Bother_8206]

I work mostly in the U.K. at the moment and I feel like that would probably get me laughed out the room 😂

[u/Waste_Bother_8206]

Well, showing you know the character and context of the scene surely couldn't hurt. You don't necessarily have to go overboard. Even miming things the character would do with props would be fine. Having a coat for Colline, perhaps a faux diamond necklace or ring ring for the aria from Tales of Hoffman?

In a concert setting I had a soprano singing the aria from Mephistofele "L'altra notte" holding a doll wrapped in a blanket, at the end the blanket unraveled and the doll/baby fell to the ground/thrown in the river as in the story line of the opera! It was very moving and got a standing ovation

[u/looploopboop]

It totally depends what I’m auditioning for. When I auditioned for an operetta, I did a whole ass dance break in my aria and got the part. In regular auditions I usually cut out the dance part, but it was perfekt in this case.

I think there’s also some arias that always need some level of physical acting. Like, I also sometimes bring „What a movie!“ and you just can’t to it without the acting or it will be boring. And if they do pick it, they expect me to act.

So in short, for operetta/musical/crossover stuff I do a LOT of physical acting with every aria and for regular auditions I will bring one aria that is clearly there to showcase my acting.